We’re up at 6:00 and out the door early to get in a last ride before the long drive home. We go back to the same spot as the previous 2 days to try and hit some new stuff. In the end it’s a really long ride on some mediocre singletrack to ride a trail that was fine, but not really destination-worthy. We did get to do both Mineral Site and Electric Loop, trails that are new to us. But nothing to write home about.
The Strava link can be found here.
Back at the hotel we shower up then bring the crew to breakfast. As much as I wanted to stop for a coffee & muffin we’re going to be on the road a long time today, so I skipped it and went to the hotel for one last hurrah at their free cereal. Simon and I both eat 2 bowls of chocolate something-or-other.
Then we pack up the car and hit the road. All 384 miles of it to get home.
We intend to swing by a Dunkin Donuts but they’re all loaded with cars lined up 20 deep. Finally we just pull in and go inside, and while it’s faster the wait is pretty long and the people working in there are miserable and nasty. I guess I understand.
On the drive home we discuss bike things I need to do. We order parts. We talk about hikes. Other trips. Stuff like that. The road is long. There’s a lot to discuss.
We stop for gas and there’s another Dunkin Donuts here, which is what ends up being lunch for us. I think maybe we are in Massachusetts by now. At a certain point it all becomes a blur.
When we entered the state it was 92. Then we saw 93. And 94 before too long. We cross into Connecticut, and New York, and finally New Jersey. The trip is uneventful and that is good.
We get home safe & sound. Our 12 day 2020 family vacation comes to an end.
Reflections on North Conway
I liked North Conway. The town center itself is a necessary evil for what the place is. It’s a pretty tourist-heavy area so you do have to have the places to eat, shop, and so on. It’s not really what I remember but I have to admit, I don’t have any memory of the place and it’s been a really long time since I had been there. It was really another lifetime ago.
The weather is great, this much is obvious. I know it’s the right time of year to be there, and if I were there in February I would hate it. Maybe great for skiing, but the other 6 days a week would be tough. And as I said to someone else, the road biking would get old quickly because there are really so few roads.
But as a vacation spot it’s awesome. The hiking is top-notch and the mountain biking is almost, maybe not quite there yet, but almost worth the trip. Between the 2 it really is a great place to go. I didn’t like the housing quite as much as Killington because we had a full condo in Killington, whereas here we had a room. But that has nothing to do with the town itself.
I could see myself going back up there, especially if we get the family to agree to do more and more serious hikes. D wants to try the Grand Canyon one day and if this is something the kids want to do with us, they need to be able to handle some serious vertical hiking. North Conway is a great launch point for that.
In the end, it was a really solid place to spend the back half of our vacation.
Traveling Normandy 